In coming weeks, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) will begin a debate about reforming the National Security Agency, and her home-state colleague, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D), negotiated a major water and public works bill last year.

Mikulski was quick to note the role that Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) often plays in these very partisan times; Collins has been the key GOP power broker in tough negotiations between warring factions.

The Language of Life: Gender equality from a parent’s perspective Bradenton Herald As a parent reading Maria Shriver’s report, “A woman’s nation pushes back from the brink,” and finding out that one-third of American women are living at or near the brink of poverty, I wondered: How as parents do we make sense of these abysmal facts? How do we use them to make a difference?

One thought is that we begin a dialog with our children, as they are the future leaders of the world. If, as a mother, you want your daughters treated fairly, then we must take the time to speak with our sons about gender equity, to ensure that they grow-up with the thought of equality between men and women being the rule and not a welcomed exception. The old saying goes, “charity begins at home and ends abroad” and I dare say, so does gender equality.

On Thursday, Jon Stewart introduced his new segment, “Jon Stewart’s Thumbs Up, Women,” which celebrated the latest and greatest moments in breaking down the glass ceiling.

Women of Color Behind the Rise of Female Democrats Women’s eNews (WOMENSENEWS)– Democratic women have gained legislative seats at a much higher rate than Republican women in recent years. To a great extent, the rise of female Democrats is about the rise of Democratic women of color. Although they do not hold office in proportion to their presence in the U.S. population, minority women have advanced in state legislatures.

Of course, the Democratic Party need not have a monopoly on the candidacies of women of color. In 2010, in fact, among the most noteworthy accomplishments for women in politics was the election of two women of color to the office of governor, Susana Martinez in New Mexico and Nikki Haley in South Carolina, both of whom are Republican.

Women of color have made gains despite the fact that they seem in several respects to confront greater obstacles than white women. Resources and party support appear to be more difficult for women of color to attain and minority women who are elected to the legislature seem to have overcome more efforts than Anglo women to discourage their candidacies.

Blue-Slip Blues Keep Female Judges Stuck at 30% Women’s eNews …Obama has nominated women to the federal bench at twice the rate of his predecessor and more than any previous president. If we want to move beyond the plateau of 30 percent of women in the federal judiciary we must act to break the logjam.

Federal judges make decisions that affect our lives, from hearing cases impacting the environment, health care, Social Security benefits and immigration to having the final say in determining who we can marry, whether our speech is protected or how we can vote. Federal judges are appointed for life and their decisions have an impact long after the president who appointed them leaves office.

Why? Because HR 7 eliminates medical-expense deductions for abortion care, essentially raising taxes on the women who opt to have an abortion. Like many abortion restrictions, this provision includes an exemption for victims of rape and incest, as well as women who encounter life-threatening complications from their pregnancies. But in order to enforce those exceptions, the IRS would have to verify that the women who are claiming a medical-expense deduction for an abortion fall into one of those three categories, to ensure they’re not committing tax fraud.

Boxer, Kirk Introduce Bill to Promote Women’s Participation in … PoliticalNews.me (press release) Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) introduced the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2014. The bipartisan legislation would codify in law the commitments contained in the United States National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security and ensure that the United States promotes women’s meaningful inclusion and participation in mediation and negotiation processes undertaken in order to prevent, mitigate, or resolve violent conflict.

Women are disproportionately affected by violence and armed conflict, but are often underrepresented in peace negotiations. Evidence has shown that including women in efforts to prevent and resolve conflict helps to promote democracy and increases the likelihood that the peace process will succeed.

The newly formed Institute for Women in Politics of Northwest Florida, for which Mack is president, will offer its first campaign workshop on Saturday at the downtown library at 239 N. Spring St. Mack said her experiences creating the institute are proof that it’s needed to get more women interested and involved.

“In the process of forming this organization, there is an undercurrent – a very subtle, quiet undercurrent in this community – that I came across, that in some circles it’s probably not socially acceptable to run for office,” she said. “It’s ‘what will my peers think of me’ and ‘what will they approve.’ We need to socialize that there’s great satisfaction in helping good government and in using elected positions to solve problems.”

How not to appeal to women voters MSNBC Buck’s extremism on women’s issues contributed heavily to his failed U.S.Senate candidacy in Colorado in 2010, but he’s back in 2014, apparently …

Pallister said he plans to file a complaint with the provincial elections commissioner alleging an event planned by the Women’s Advisory Council violates a ban on government advertising and announcements.

The advisory council has planned a reception at the legislature Jan. 28 to mark the 98th anniversary of when Manitoba women won the right to vote.

That’s the same day that two provincial byelections are being held. Provincial law forbids the governments and its agencies from making announcements during any election period.

Ontario Regulator Proposes Rules for Women on Boards Bloomberg Ontario Regulator Publicly traded companies in Ontario will have to disclose how many women they have on their boards in a push to boost the ranks of female executives under proposals from the province’s securities regulator.

Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange would also be required to report their policies on women in the workplace, their director term limits as well as targets for women representation, the Ontario Securities Commission said in a statement today. The proposals would amend the national rules on disclosure of corporate governance practices and are open for a 90-day comment period ending April 16.

“This is about helping TSX-listed issuers tap into a pool of talented and capable resources currently under-represented on today’s boards and senior management,” Howard Wetston, chief executive officer of the OSC, said in the statement.

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The UK Political Studies Association Women and Politics Specialist Group. Resource for researchers working on women and/or gender and for women in the PSA. The 2014 Specialist Group of the Year.
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